Chief of stuff

@faisalislam @DanNeidle Faisal, JP Morgan did NOT build their new HQ. They stopped at the foundations & moved into the Lehman brothers building. Don’t know if banker bonus had anything to do with it but it’s been a blight on the riverfront for over a decade now!

Staggering to see emails suggest Mandelson advised JP Morgan’s Dimon via Epstein to “mildly threaten” Cabinet colleague Alastair Darling over banker bonus tax. The Dimon call DID happen, Darling told me about it, including apparent threat to shun gilts & re HQ… HT @DanNeidle

@Ben_Spencer per my message to you back in November - please see your BBC colleagues’ article today - incidence of 192 per 100,000 MEN. Accuracy by journalists matters. bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

'It's ruined my life': Flat-owner says building work by freeholder has left her homeless bbc.in/493cNLP

@LKPleasehold @mtpennycook @justinmadders Completely omits the fact that >1 million houses are leasehold - a nice little earner @NLC_2019 Instead pushes the false narrative that English & Welsh flat-dwellers are too lazy/incompetent to have responsibility for their buildings while those across 🌍 somehow manage…

Flimsy nonsense: 2 PR men and the insurers (!) hand-wringing over capping ground rents blighting investment. Are highly aggressive GR introduced by subsidised (!) housebuilders such a great advert for UK biz in first place? @mtpennycook @justinmadders thetimes.com/article/417cc1…

@Ben_Spencer there’s something awry with the common cancer incidence data in your ST article today. The prostate cancer incidence of 221.7 must be per 100k MEN not people. Because otherwise incidence in men-only/100k wb >400 🤔 Conversely breast cancer looks low.

@kellyngbbc living above 2,000m isn’t as rare/inhospitable as your article suggests eg, Mexico City (population of nearly 10m). Did you perhaps mean to say above 3,000m? bbc.co.uk/news/articles/… en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_h…

Are you age 40ish to 73? This is a v important listen. There's an Apr 25 deadline that if u miss it means u lose the chance to top up 13yrs of National Insurance (possibly missing £10,000s), yet it takes time, so u need-know NOW if u should start Pls share with anyone impacted

I’m not exaggerating when I say, this is exactly how my grandfather sounded three months before we had to put him in a nursing home

@SophieLB1 Beautiful photos. We hiked it in 2002 - I don’t think I’d have the courage to do it today! The Narrows is a beautiful hike too - when there’s no risk of flooding.

Angels Landing hike in Zion National Park. Terrifying but rewarding 😬

@NASAGoddard @NASAEarth Um, no they didn’t! The Brontes were from Haworth - in West Yorkshire. Wuthering Heights was located in the Pennine Moorland of West Yorkshire. The #Landsat9 image is of the East Yorkshire coast, a long way from the pen and imagination of Emily!

Welcome to the Victorian era! These timeless moors inspired scenery in Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre! #Landsat 9 captured this image of the North York Moors in Yorkshire, England, on December 26, 2023. go.nasa.gov/3VVphgC

Satisfying photos for perfectionists - thread 🧵 1. Crescent Moon bridge by Yier Wang

🗳️ A General Election has been called 🚨 We want to know how political parties plan to fix the #BuildingSafetyCrisis Download our manifesto ▶️ endourcladdingscandal.org/wp-content/upl… #EndOurCladdingScandal

@PeteApps Totally. Too often the maxim ‘justice delayed is justice denied’ holds true.

Colleagues at IH will have a report up later, and I'll write a Substack with some further thoughts out tomorrow. Closing thought is that the Met's justification for taking so long is that it's better to be thorough than fast. But that only holds if they really deliver justice.

Been at the Met Police briefing on Grenfell investigation: - Charging files will not go to prosecutors until 2026 - Decision on charges not until end of 2026 - Trials will not start for at least six months after that Will be over a decade after fire before anyone is in court

A bit of #everydaysexism on the @BBCSport app. “Which BBC pundit got *his* predictions spot on”. 🤔 Was ‘he’ Ellen White, Fara Williams, Lindsay Johnson…

Please feel free to share the funeral arrangements. Thanks, the Wallace Family x

Wonderful tribute to Sinead O’Connor & Shane McGowan last night at Carnegie Hall. Cait O’Riordan (in green) was one of the original Pogues and in their early days they were the support band to my flatmate’s band at the 100 Club on Oxford Street!

@WendyPMitchell Dear Sarah and Gemma My deepest condolences on the loss of your amazing and inspirational mother. I only ‘knew’ her via twitter & her books. I enjoyed her blogs, photos of birds, sunrises and her love & enthusiasm for nature’s gifts. Rest in peace Wendy xx

This is Sarah and Gemma, Wendy’s daughters. Our mum died peacefully early this morning. She wrote a blog post before she died so you can read about it from her perspective. Sarah and Gemma whichmeamitoday.wordpress.com/2024/02/22/my-…

Sad to read of the passing of singer Melanie Safka at 76. My brother introduced me to her music in 1970 with her Candles in the Rain album, which remains my favourite. Lay Down, Leftover Wine… and fantastic covers of Ruby Tuesday and Gone to Carolina In My Mind #RIPMelanie

To again state the obvious, this makes wealth inequality much worse. A 35-year-old with less-well-off parents needs to earn around £25,000 more per year than their contemporaries with wealthy parents in order to have the same shot at buying a house.

The last time houses were this hard to afford, cars had not yet been invented, Queen Victoria was on the throne and home ownership was the preserve of a wealthy minority. After ~80 years of homeownership being very achievable, that’s what we’ve gone back to.